These are not elaborate essays, but glimpses from different points of what is known as the Slaveholders' Rebellion. They are published in the hope that the later generations who read them will be impressed with the great sacrifices necessary to prevent the division of the grand republic into petty and jangling states, and be ready to teach all under their influence that the path to prosperity is to maintain the Union forever -- adapted from the preface.

Subtitle varies slightly: "A series of papers read before the Minnesota Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States." Editors: 2nd-3rd series, E.D. Neill; 4th-6th series, Committees of the Commandery.

Volume one.War memories / Brigadier-General R. W. Johnson -- Reminiscences of the last year of President Lincoln's life / Chaplain Edward D. Neill -- Some account and recollections of the operations against the city of Mobile and its defences, 1864 and 1865 / Major Charles J. Allen -- Reminiscences of General U. S. Grant / Brigadier-General W. R. Marshall -- Some experiences of an enlisted man / Captain Henry A. Castle -- Personal observations and experiences in the Pope Campaign in Virginia / Rev. Daniel Leasure -- The blessing of war / Captain Eugene M. Wilson -- From Chancellorsville to Libby Prison / Rev. Clay MacCauley -- From Atlanta to Raleigh / Colonel Charles D. Kerr -- Reminiscences of the war in the Department of the Missouri / Brigadier-General John B. Sandborn -- How the day was saved at the Battle of Cedar Creek / Brigadier-General A. Bayard Nettelton -- Reminiscences of an army surgeon / Colonel Daniel Hand -- Recollections of the Mine Run Campaign / Lieutenant-Colonel Edwin C. Mason -- The surrender of the Third Regiment Minnesota Volunteer Infantry / Brigadier-General C. C. Andrews -- The illusions of a soldier / Major-General S. P. Jennison -- The old Vermont Brigade at Petersburg / Brigadier-General Lewis A. Grant -- Volume two. From the wilderness to Richmond / Major B. F. Wright -- Cavalry : its use and value, as illustrated by reference to the engagements of Kelly's Ford and Gettysburg / Captain D. M. Gilmore -- The Mill Spring Campaign : personal experiences and observations of a company officer / Brigadier-General J. W. Bishop -- The first Minnesota Infantry, U.S. volunteers / Captain J. N. Searles -- The campaign against Vicksburg / Major-General John B. Sanborn -- The Campaign in West Virginia / Captain J. N. Cross -- The expedition against the Sioux Indians in 1863, under General Henry H. Sibley / Captain L. W. Collins -- From Yorktown to Williamsburg / Lieutenant-Colonel Reuben C. Benton -- Remarks of Commander Brevet Major-General Henry H. Sibley is assuming command of the Commandery, June 6, 1888 -- Minnesota and the war / Honorable Alexander Ramsey -- Poem : our new commander / Captain Henry A. Castle -- Reminiscences of the war / Captain S. P. Snider -- Recollection of the Battle of Fredericksburg / Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Simonton -- The Red river expedition / Brigadier-General L. F. Hubbard -- The loyal legion / Colonel James H. Howe -- The skirmish at Falling Waters / Major J. O. Pierce -- The western organization of colored people for furnishing information to U.S. troops in the south / Colonel J.W. Bissell -- The early days of reconstruction in northeastern Arkansas / Colonel Hans Mattson -- The army mule / Captain Henry A. Castle -- The results of the war / Captain M. J. Severance -- Washington adapted for a crisis / Reverend Dr. E. D. Neill -- Letter of past commander General Henry H. Sibley -- Acceptance of General J. W. Bishop, June 7, 1889 / Captain Eugene M. Wilson -- Our country / Brigadier-General J. H. Baker -- Poem : morituri salutamus / Colonel George W. Baird -- The army and navy / Brigadier-General Edwin C. Mason -- The soldier in civil life / Captain Charles H. Woods -- Volume 3. The Battle of Birch Coolie / Lieutenant Jas. J. Egan -- The Yellow Medicine massacre / First Lieutenant John F. Bishop -- Some facts about the Battle of Shiloh / Captain Chas. L. Sumbardo -- The First Minnesota at Gettysburg / Lieutenant Wm. Lochren -- The Pennsylvania Reserve / Lieutenant Ell Torrance -- Work of the fifth Corps ambulance train, spring and summer of 1864 -- Early war days in the nation's capital / Captain Thos. M. Woodruff -- Eighteenth U.S. Infantry from Camp Thomas, O., to Murfreesboro and the regular brigade at Stone River / Major H. B. Freeman -- The loyal legion / Colonel C. d. Kerr -- The campaign n Missouri in September and October, 1864 / Major-General John B. Sanborn -- Southern military prisons and escapes / Lieutenant Warren H. Mead -- Johnson's Island and the Lake Erie Raid of 1864 / Lieutenant Geo. M. Phillips -- Reminiscences of Indian depredations in Minnesota / Captain James Starkey -- The world's estimate of George Washington, the first great American / Rev. Otis H. Tiffany -- Early life and personal reminiscences of General W. T. Sherman / Captain Wm. McCrory -- Incidents of prison life, with causes of confederate cruelty / Captain Chas. L. Sumbardo -- Poem : a scout's greeting to brevet Major-General Wesley Merritt, U.S.A. / Captain Jack Crawford -- The life and services of General John A. Rawlins / Captain J. M. Shaw -- Personal recollections of the St. Albans Raid of 1864 / Lieutenant-Colonel R. C. Benton -- The Army of the Potomac / Captain Wm. B. Leach -- The shelter tent / Captain Henry A. Castle -- Incidents of the Battles of Fair Oaks and Malvern Hill / Rev. Dr. Edward D. Neill -- Columbus and the new movement of commerce / Rev. Dr. Edward D. Neill -- In memorian — General W. T. Sherman / Captain Henry A. Castle, Colonel C. D. Kerr, Lieutenant Ell Torrance -- Volume four. War's first rude alarm in 1861 / Captain James P. Moore -- My experience in rebel prisons / Brigadier and Brevet Major-General C. C. Andrews -- Relation of the regular army to the country in time of peace / Brevet-Major M. C. Wilkinson -- The sutler / Captain Henry A. Castle -- Oliver Perry Morton, the great war governor / Lieutenant John Thornburgh -- With General Gregg at Gettysburg / Captain D. M. Gilmore -- Some experiences of a veteran in the rear / Captain J. W. Hinckley -- The frontier of southwestern Minnesota in 1857 : the Ink-pa-doo-ta outbreak; the Campaign of 1863 against the Sioux / Captain Horace Austin -- The battle and capture of Atlanta / Brevet-Brigadier-General R. N. Adams -- The army of the Tennessee under Major-General O. O. Howard / Brevet-Major William Duncan -- Campaign for Atlanta / Brevet-Brigadier-General R. N. Adams -- Shall this country build more battle ships? / Lieutenant-Colonel Reuben C. Benton -- From Michigan to Chattanooga in 1862 / Lieutenant Marcus W. Bates -- Dress parade / Captain Henry A. Castle -- An episode in the Kentucky Campaign of General Buell and Bragg / Lieutenant-Colonel Charles D. Kerr -- Through the wilderness to the bloody angle at Spottsylvania court house / Brevet-Brigadier-General Edwin C. Mason -- Personal recollections of a line officer / Captain Chester G. Higbee -- Through the Carolina with the Army of the Tennessee / Brevet-Major William Duncan -- The iron brigade in the first day's battle at Gettysburg / Captain William H. Harries -- Under fire at Charleston while a prisoner of war / Lieutenant George W. Grant -- A day with the confederates / Lieutenant Elwood S. Corser -- General U.S. Grant, his military character and position in history / Brevet-Brigadier-General James H. Baker -- General Alfred Sully's Indian Campaign of 1864 / Lieutenant David L. Kingsbury -- Reminiscences of the bloody angle / Brevet-Major John D. Black -- Fort Donelson / Brevet-Major Henry G. Hicks -- The boys in blue grown gray / Captain Henry A. Castle -- Three frontier battles : Wilson's Creek, Pea Ridge, Prairie Grove / Brevet-Captain William P. Allen -- General George H. Thomas / -- General George H. Thomas / Lieutenant Ell Torrance -- With the Army of the Tennessee through the Carolinas / Brevet-Major William Duncan -- Home guard battles / Captain Edgar S. Dudley -- In the ranks at Antietam / Captain William H. Harries -- Battle of Corinth; the campaign preceding and leading up to this battle and its results / Lieutenant-Colonel William B. McCord -- Personal experience; a side light on the Wilson Raid, June 1864 / Brevet-Brigadier-General Edmund M. Pope -- Some letters of General William T. Sherman, U.S.A. relating to Shiloh / Brevet-Brigadier-General William R. Marshall -- Remarks on a motion to extend a vote of thanks to General Marshall for the above paper / Brevet-Major-General John B. Sanborn -- Volume five. Recollections as seen through a boy's eyes / Col. John H. Page -- Four weeks with Long's cavalry in east Tennessee / Capt. and Brevet Maj. John P. Rea -- The First Army Corps on the first day of Gettysburg / First Lieutenant George W. Grant -- Colored troops in the War of the Rebellion / Capt. and Brevet Major Henry Allyn Norton -- Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge / Captain J. C. Donahower -- The Second Division of the Sixteenth Army Corps in the Atlanta Campaign / Captain James Compton -- "Kautz raiding around Petersburg / Lieutenant James Marion Tucker -- The Battle of Bentonville / Lieutenant Marcus W. Bates -- Kilpatrick's raid around Atlanta / Brevet Major John P. Rea -- Personal reminiscences of the North Atlantic blockading squadron / Acting Master William Jennings -- The Battle of Allatoona / Captain Mortimer R. Flint -- Battles and campaigns of September, 1862 / Brigadier General John B. Sanborn -- The ethics of secession / Major James Oscar Pierce -- The army chaplain / Chaplain E. Steele Peake -- Death and dishonor / Captain Edwin E. Woodman -- Reminiscences of the Shenandoah Valley in 1864 / Captain Ezra Farnsworth -- Those whom you left behind / George Henry Daggett -- Reminiscences of service with the Eighth Minnesota Infantry / Major Benj. Witherell Bronson -- The siege of Knoxville / Captain Philip Grenville Woodward -- The war of the border / Captain Mortimer R. Flint -- "The same United States flag" / Captain Francis B. Hart -- Thrilling moments / George H. Daggett -- The campaign up the James River to Petersburg / Captain Edwin Simonton -- The Battle of Franklin / Captain John K. Shellenberger -- Volume six. The Second Division of the Sixth Corps at Cedar Creek / Brigadier-General Lewis A. Grant -- Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley Campaign / Captain Orton S. Clark -- Van der Veer's brigade at Chickamauga / Colonel Judson Wade Bishop -- Reminiscences of my confinement as a prisoner of war / Lieutenant-Colonel James Baker Hoit -- The campaign and capture of Vicksburg / First Lieutenant Henry G. Hicks -- The capture of New Orleans / Captain Ezra Farnsworth -- The inspiration of the lines / George H. Daggett -- Gainesville, Virginia, August 28th, 1862 / Captain William Henry Harries -- The Battle of Cedar Creek / Captain Ezra Farnsworth -- Six months in the Freedman's Bureau with a colored regiment / Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Tyler Trowbridge -- Memories of fifty years ago / Captain Darius A. Cudworth -- The Constitution of 1789 / Captain Chester Donahower -- Some incidents not recorded in the rebellion records / Captain James Compton -- Minnesota in the battles of Nashville, December 15-16, 1864 / Colonel Lucius Frederick Hubbard -- My first company / Colonel Robert N. Adams -- Blockade duty during the Civil War / Assistant Paymaster Thomas Hunter Dickson -- Brown's experience as a wounded soldier / Captain Ezra Farnsworth -- Types and traditions of the old army : memories of the fifties / Brigadier-General Michael R. Morgan -- Opdycke's brigade at the Battle of Franklin / Captain Henry A. Castle -- At the rear in war times / Captain Ezra Farnsworth -- Did Jefferson Davis help us? / Captain William Henry Harries -- The Battle of Brice's Cross Road / Colin F. MacDonald -- Some of the Army mules esteemed contemporaries / Captain Henry A. Castle -- Minnesota in the battles of Corinth / Colonel Lucius Frederick Hubbard -- The Battle of Bull Run — a Confederate victory obtained but not achieved / Lieutenant-Colonel Josias R. King -- The Third Minnesota in the Battle of Fitzhugh's Woods / Brigadier-General C. C. Andrews -- Personal recollections of the War of the Rebellion / Captain Borden M. Hicks -- The experiences and observations of a drafted man in the Civil War / Chaplain Levi Gleason -- The great military review at Agra / General Charles McC. Reeve -- An echo of the past / Jacob Stone.